


Hearth and Home

by sylviaviridian



Category: Kyou Kara Maou!
Genre: Family Fluff, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-16
Packaged: 2018-03-18 03:50:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3555005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sylviaviridian/pseuds/sylviaviridian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Gwendal finds a half-Mazoku orphan while returning from a diplomatic mission to human lands, he can't very well just leave the kid there...but giving him up once he gets the boy home might prove even harder. Unapologetically fluffy slice-of-life fic, eventual Gwendal/Gunter, character tags will be added as more show up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Gunter paced the halls of the castle nervously. According to Gwendal’s last letter, he should be arriving home within a few days. But he’d only made a brief allusion to the aspect of his return that - with news from others reaching them - was sending the rumor mill wild.

He paused near the branching of two hallways as he heard the giggle of one of the maids around the corner, not wishing to disturb their work, and caught snatches of conversation.

“So have you heard?”

“Yes! Lord von Voltaire is on his way home-”

“But he’s not alone! There’s a little boy with him!”

Soldiers and innkeepers talked, and news traveled faster than a small traveling party, even on horseback. Gunter bit his lip to keep quiet as the maids continued.

“Do you suppose the boy is his?! You know how these nobles can be~”

“Well, I don’t know about that...but he is coming from human lands, and they say the boy is half-Mazoku!”

“Aah~ it’s so dramatic, isn’t it? Keeping a secret lover for all this time, hiding her away in shame from the eyes of the court!”

The idea was ludicrous, of course. Gwendal had never shown the least interest in romance, had always simply been too busy for it...but Gunter couldn’t help the images that sprung to mind, of Gwendal and some unknown human woman. Sharing furtive kisses under the stars, candlelight dinners hidden away from the troubles of the rest of the world, and then… He halted the train of thought in its tracks, reflexively brushing at his nose and grateful to find no blood underneath it this time.

The maids were still talking. “But that doesn’t sound much like Lord von Voltaire! Isn’t he too honorable to keep her hidden like that?” Hope bloomed in Gunter’s heart, only to be dashed moments later, “ _I_ bet it was _her_ that wouldn’t leave her home and family. He’s probably been silent to respect her wishes. Only now something’s happened to her, or they had a fight, and now he’s bringing their child to stay with him instead…”

It was too much. Gunter rounded the corner in a swirl of robes, still blushing bright red from the wild fantasies their words had inspired. “Enough!” he cried, causing Doria to drop her feather duster in shock. “I am quite sure the three of you are too busy to stand around gossiping...and if you aren’t, I can change that very easily!”

The maids collected their tools and scattered, still giggling, and Gunter sighed in relief at the sudden silence. Normally their gossip was harmless enough that he would let them be, but to hear them saying such things about Gwendal…

“You really don’t need to be so hard on them, Lord von Christ,” drawled an easygoing voice from the rafters, making Gunter start slightly.

“Jozak?” Gunter squinted into the shadows until he spotted Shin Makoku’s best spy lazily leaning on a beam. “Come down from there at once! It’s impolite to eavesdrop!”

Jozak snorted. “Like you’re one to talk.” He got to his feet, and jumped to the floor, landing with surprising grace. “Anyway, it’s not _my_ fault if people start talking where I can hear them, just because no one ever bothers looking up.”

“Hmph.” Gunter crossed his arms. “If you’re that bored, I’m sure I can find some work for you, as well.” It was an empty threat, and they both knew it: although Gunter significantly outranked Jozak socially, he didn’t have any direct authority over the spy, and Jozak wasn’t the type to be intimidated by social status alone.

“I think I’ll pass,” Jozak replied with a grin, confirming that he knew perfectly well Gunter couldn’t order him around. “...But you know, chasing the maids off like that is only going to make them start gossiping about you, instead.”

“I did not _ask_ you,” Gunter replied in a strained tone. “And I suggest you find some other way to amuse yourself, or I’ll be forced to tell Gisela you’re in need of something to do.” He was proud as only a father could be of his daughter’s ability to order around anyone in the castle by sheer force of personality...and unafraid to call in a favor when his own influence wasn’t enough to exact revenge.

“All right, all right, I’m going.” That, apparently, was a threat that could get through to Jozak, and he waved casually as he turned around and sauntered off. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Gunter sighed once again as he was, at last, properly alone. Logically, he sincerely doubted that Gwendal would have been able to hide a secret lover from all of them for so long. But he had always been emotionally inscrutable, and...what if? “All these years...perhaps I never truly knew him at all!!”

Jozak, now two halls away but still not out of earshot of this latest outburst, shook his head in exasperation. “Oh, brother.”

Conrad, approaching from the other direction, glanced quizzically toward Gunter’s voice. “Jozak? ...Dare I ask what’s going on?”

“You are not gonna _believe_ this…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How did this happen? I don't usually do fluff, but this idea kept eating at my brain until I wrote it an outline, and it's easier to work on while I'm at work than dramatic angst. I hope you enjoyed this preview - chapter one will be up once I've edited it.


	2. A New Arrival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gwendal gets home and lays the rumor mill to rest. Gisela makes a new friend, and Gunter can see where this is going.

“Of course he’s not mine,” Gwendal growled irritably, a faint blush flaring in his cheeks from the implication. Off to the side, Gunter looked ready to faint with relief. Gwendal dismounted from his horse, then helped the boy down as well. When the child failed to let go of his hand afterward, he seemed to simply accept this, and turned to the small crowd surrounding him instead. “...He’s an orphan. I ran into him on the way back to Shin Makoku.”

The boy was, perhaps understandably, practically hiding behind Gwendal’s leg at this point. Gwendal used their joined hands to usher him forward slightly. “Say ‘hello’, Bastian.” Bastian took a wary look up at the crowd of strange faces, paled, and moved closer to Gwendal again, clearly too nervous to speak. Gwendal sighed, and squeezed the boy’s hand. “It’s all right, they’re not going to hurt you.” Scanning the crowd, his gaze lit on the face most likely to be able to put Bastian at ease. “...Gisela, would you mind taking him to find a room he can use?”

“I’d be delighted,” Gisela replied, stepping forward with a gentle smile. She stopped in front of them and knelt down to look Bastian in the eye. “My name is Gisela,” she told him, and extended a hand for him to take. “I’ll bet you’re tired from that long ride. Let’s go find a room you can stay in in the castle, okay?”

Bastian looked up at Gwendal, who nodded at him. “Go on,” he encouraged. “I need to put my horse away and take care of a few things here, but I’ll be up to see you soon. In the meantime, Gisela will take good care of you.”

With Gwendal’s approval, and the assurance that he would only be missing boring things, Bastian seemed to relax just a little. “Okay,” he said, letting go of Gwendal’s hand to take Gisela’s instead.

Gisela beamed at him. “I know just the place for you. Come on and I’ll show you, and if you’re up to it, we’ll take a little tour of the castle.” The crowd parted for them as they left, gradually dispersing once it was clear there wasn’t going to be anything else interesting to see. “...So how old are you, Bastian?” she asked him as they walked, to make conversation and help put him at ease.

The boy set his jaw mulishly. “I’m ten! ...I’m just short!”

Gisela smiled at him reassuringly, though her brow creased slightly in concern. “You look ten to me,” she confided. “Mazoku age slower than humans, that’s why you look younger than a human your age.”

“But I’m not a Mazoku, either,” Bastian murmured, lowering his eyes. “...I’m only half.”

He was too young to feel so low over something he couldn’t control, and Gisela’s heart went out to the boy. She stopped walking so that she could kneel down in front of him, looking into his eyes seriously. “I’m not going to lie and say no one here in Shin Makoku cares about that,” she told him. “...But Gwendal’s brother Conrad, and his friend Jozak, are half-Mazoku like you, and they’re very important to all of us here. So if anyone is ever mean to you about it, you just tell one of us, and we’ll scare them away for you. Okay?”

A slow, mischievous smile spread across Bastian’s face. “O-okay!” he agreed. “...I’ll tell Gwendal. He looks kinda scary even when he _isn’t_ mad about something.” Gwendal’s kind of scary was a good kind of scary to have on your side.

Gisela giggled at that. “He does, doesn’t he? But that’s just how his face is. He’s nicer than he looks when you get to know him.”

“Yeah!” Bastian grinned now. “He let me sleep with him in his tent the whole way home, and he glared at a lot of people for laughing about it.” It had left Bastian more than a little in awe of his new protector and the ability to make people go away with just a look.

“That sounds like Gwendal, all right,” Gisela agreed. “So you can see, you’re in good hands while you’re here.”

Back with Gwendal, Gunter watched the boy and his daughter depart, glad that Gisela’s gentle charm seemed to be putting young Bastian at ease. Once they were safely out of earshot, he turned back to his old friend. “So, where exactly _did_ you find him?”

“On the outskirts of the city, just as I was leaving for home,” Gwendal replied. “...He was being bullied by some human children, and after I chased them off, I learned he was an orphan.” He shrugged and turned aside to start unloading his saddlebags, obviously a little embarrassed in retrospect. “Even if he’s only half-blooded, it isn’t right to leave a Mazoku child on his own in human lands...so I brought him with me. And since he _is_ half-blooded, I didn’t think it was such a good idea to leave him at a normal orphanage, either.” Having finished his task, he turned back to Gunter, his posture slightly defensive. “...I thought he could stay here while we look for a family to take him in permanently. It’s not as if His Majesty is going to mind.”

Gunter smiled at this. “No, indeed,” he murmured. “I think it’s very good of you, and I’m sure the boy will enjoy living here.”

Something about his tone must have given away his real thoughts, because Gwendal, who had been about to turn back so he could lead his horse to the stables, paused, eyes narrowing in suspicion. “I want to emphasize,” he said, “that this is a temporary situation. We are _not_ keeping him.”

“Of course,” Gunter agreed, giving him a bright and pleasant smile that concealed any trace of real emotion.

“...Good,” Gwendal replied in the same tone, clearly not believing in Gunter’s agreement any more than Gunter had believed in his declaration. With nothing more to argue for the moment, though, he finally turned away and began leading his horse to the stables.

Gunter watched him go, his gaze softening. _Oh, Gwendal,_ he thought. _I know what your intentions are...but I also know your weaknesses. And even watching you with him for such a short time, it’s already clear you’re getting attached. I don’t think it will be as easy as you say to hand him over to some other family._ He shook his head, turning away to follow after where Gisela had taken the boy.

_The only real question is how long it will take you to admit to it._


End file.
